There are a lot of people interested in the upcoming It movie, as evidenced by record-breaking views of the trailer that dropped earlier this week. The first trailer for the highly anticipated Stephen King adaptation notched more than 197 million views globally in its first 24 hours online, besting the previous record of 139 million views for the first Fate of the Furious trailer. 36 hours later, the trailer has now served as nightmare fuel over 246 million times.

An adaptation of King’s It has been in the works for a while now, and the film was originally intended to serve as True Detective and Beasts of No Nation filmmaker Cary Fukunaga’s next project. He unfortunately left over creative differences, but still maintains a screenplay credit on the finished film alongside Chase Palmer and Gary Dauberman. After Fukunaga departed, New Line Cinema enlisted Mama helmer Andrés Muschietti to take the helm, and he’s spearheaded this updated version of Pennywise's reign of terror.

If audiences turn out for this R-rated adaptation, the plan is to then make the sequel, which will focus on the Losers Club kids as adults, just as in the book. The previous filmic adaptation of King’s massive tome spanned a TV miniseries, so trying to capture two time periods in one neat two-hour film proved impossible. The fix, then, is two different movies, and I was mighty encouraged by what we saw in that initial trailer.

For much more on It be sure to check out Dave’s deep dive into the trailer’s Easter Eggs and book references. The film stars Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Nicholas Hamilton, and Jackson Robert ScottIt opens in theaters on September 8th.

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Image via Warner Bros./New Line Cinema
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Image via Warner Bros./New Line Cinema

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Image via New Line Cinema